Two months ago I was traveling with Chris Guss and Trains Magazine’s Brian Schmidt.
It was below zero fahrenheit when I made this sunset view of a southward Canadian National freight on on the old Wisconsin Central at Byron, Wisconsin.
I exposed this view with my FujiFilm XT1. The cold weather was taking its toll on my hands and the camera performance. In the end I was luck to get results.
Last month I visited with Jim Shaughnessy, who shared with me his latest book Essential Witness that features some of his finest vintage black & white photographs.
I’ve enjoyed this wonderful book, not only for the exceptionally well composed images of railroading, and its beautiful black & white reproduction but because Jim has photographed in many of the same places that I often make my own images.
This gives me a greater perspective and appreciation for both railroading and railroad photography.
I made these portraits of Jim using my Nikon F3 with 50mm lens. Keeping with tradition, I exposed Kodak Tri-X processed in Ilford Perceptol stock.
Jim is selling signed copies of his book. You may contact Jim via email at: JShaughnessy@nycap.rr.com
Gauzy afternoon light in late autumn is a great time to photograph steam locomotives at work.
The combination of a relatively low sun angle with slightly diffused shadows, provides directional light with moderate contrast that nicely illuminates the locomotive’s boiler components and reciprocating parts while offering excellent color rendition.
Cool atmospheric conditions make for ample effluence of locomotive exhaust allowing for classic portrayal of a steam locomotive at work
This lighting situation is generally superior to harsh midday summer sun that tends to leave locomotive detail in inky shadows and atmospheric conditions that leave steam exhaust largely invisible to the naked eye.
Pat Yough and I re-examined Strasburg Railroad in mid-November and made a variety of classic views of locomotive no. 90 at work.
I avoid shrouding my work in mystery and I’ve happily discussed my technique, tools and materials with anyone who asks. This can lead to some interesting conversations, but also some peculiar observations.
Over the years, various people have offered curious comments on my photography (not including the written comments that appear in response to Tracking the Light). Below are some of the most memorable:
1) Commenter, “I like your slides, what sort of film do you use to make the photos?”
Me, “Kodachrome 25”.
Commenter, “Kodachrome 25! Isn’t that too slow?!”
2) Commenter, “That’s a beautiful scene but I didn’t think it would make a good photograph.”
3) Commenter, “Here’s a tip for you son, your photos are too head on, I couldn’t read the words on the side of the trains.”
4) Commenter, “I like your photo of the sunset, if I want to make a photo like that, which filter should I use?”
Me, “I don’t know, I didn’t use a filter.”
Commenter, “Yes, but if I was to used a filter, which one should I use?”
5) Commenter (via a 3rd party), “I don’t like Brian Solomon’s photography, it shows too many trees!”
6) Commenter, “You shouldn’t be making photos at night, it’s a waste of film!”
7) Commenter, “You still use film?!!”
8) Commenter, “So how are you adjusting from the transition to digital?”
Me, “I still haven’t adjusted from the transition to color.”
9) Commenter in regards to my Lumix LX3, “I can’t believe that YOU use THAT!”
10) Commenter in regards to a photo of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited in the Berkshires, “That’s a beautiful photograph, pity about the train.”
I made this image of a Southern Pacific eastward intermodal freight from the Book Cliffs in Utah near Floy back in 1996 when I was Editor of Pacific RailNews. At the time I worked with Nikons and exposed this view on Fujichrome. You can see a row of trees way in the distance along the Green River.
The November 2017 issue of Trains Magazine, pages 16 and 17, features my column with suggestions for improving your photography.
I offer some simple and obvious suggestions, but more importantly I challenge some common assumptions and provide some valuable counter-intuitive advice.
The nice thing about advice is that if you don’t like it, you can ignore it.
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Oh, and by the way, in case you were wondering the photograph used to illustrate the article was exposed with my FujiFilm XT1 with the Zeiss 12mm lens often mentioned in this blog.
The other morning at Pan Am’s East Deerfield yard I met up with Tim, a fellow photographer.
He asked, ‘Are you going to take that?’—meaning the sunrise over the yard.
‘Yeah, since we’re here. Why not?’
I’ve only made countless photos of this yard in the morning, but that’s never stopped me before.
For this image, I exposed Ilford Pan F black & white film (ISO 50) using a Leica IIIA with Nikkor f3.5 35mm lens. With handheld meter to gauge the lighting, I exposed this frame at f3.5 1/60th of a second.
My aim was to capture detail in the sky and allow the tracks and yard to appear as a silhouette.
East Deerfield Yard looking east at sunrise. October 2017.
I processed my film as follows: Kodak D76 mixed 1 to 1 for 6 min 30 seconds at 68F, followed by stop bath, 1st fix, 2nd fix, 1st rinse, Permawash, 2nd rinse, then 9 min selenium toner mixed 1 to 9 (one part toner to nine parts water), 3rd rinse, permawash, 4th rinse.
After scanning the negative with an Epson V750 Pro flatbed scanner, I made a few nominal adjustments to contrast using Lightroom, while removing unwanted dust-specs.
I’ll display a great variety of railway images exposed in Ireland and elsewhere, with an emphasis on photos of Irish Rail in counties Cork, Kerry, Tipperary and Limerick.
The program will be aimed at enlightening the audience on precisely I how I made images (with detailed technical explanations as required). I’ll take questions at the end.
Kent Station, Cork. Exposed on black & white film.
Cobh Junction at sunrise.
Semaphores at Kent Station, Cork. Digital photograph.
Today, Tracking the Light will reach its 300,000th direct view!
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Tracking the Light offers tips, techniques and views on railway photography.
Do you remember these photos from previous posts?
Tracking the Light has nearly 1,600 individual posts in its archives.
A Hrvatske Zeljeznice class 2044 diesel (General Motors export model GT22HW-2) works west of Zagreb. Exposed with an Nikon F3Ts with 105mm lens on Fujichrome slide film.
At 7:13pm on May 28, 1986, Amtak 449, Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited clatters across the Palmer diamond on Conrail’s former Boston & Albany mainline. At Albany-Rensselaer this will join with the New York section for the journey over the Water Level Route to Chicago. Exposed on 120 B&W film with a Rolleiflex Model T twin-lens reflex fitted with 75mm f3.5 Zeiss Tessar lens. This camera was not fitted with a prismatic view finder. Thus the finder image was a mirror of reality which made composition of moving trains challenging. Nor did this camera have a meter, so exposure was calculated using a hand-held meter and the photographer’s experience. In truth, bright sun shining off the stainless-steel passenger cars resulted in an overexposed image..
A timetable-southward BNSF freight gets a green signal at Bealville, California. FujiFilm X-T1 photo. Image was not altered in post processing except to scale for internet presentation.
071 at Gort.
PCC at dusk on Frankford Street near The Handle Bar. LX7 Photo.
Mass-Central switches at the Route 181 crossing north of Palmer. The morning mist clung to the valley but it soon burned away. Canon EOS 7D with 200mm lens.
Exposed on 35mm black & white film using a Leica 3a with 50mm Summitar; exposure calculated with the aid of a Weston Master III photo cell. Film processed in D76.
Exposed on 35mm Kodak black & white film with a Leica 3A fitted with a 50mm Elmar. Notice CocaCola’s hi-rise office in the distance. It was this landmark I was trying to feature. I didn’t have a 90mm lens, which is really what I needed to make this image work.
Exposed on 35mm Kodak Plus-X using a Leica M2 with an f2.0 35mm Summicron lens. Exposure calculated manually using a Sekonic Studio Deluxe photo cell. Image scanned with a Epson Perfection V600 scanner; contrast altered in post processing using Lightroom.
Amtrak 939 leads train 163 on the former New Haven Railroad at Green’s Farms, Connecticut. Exposed using a FujiFilm X-T1 with 18-35mm zoom lens.
A DB Class 101 electric leads southward IC train through vineyards near Boppard, Germany in September 2013. Exposed with a Lumix LX3. The Lumix is fitted with a Leica lens that allows for great depth of field.
VR overnight train IC 266 approaches Oulu, Finland on the evening of Jul 25, 2015.
VR Sr2 at Oulu, Finland after 11 pm on Wednesday, July 22, 2015. File adjusted for exposure, contrast, and saturation.
A Saturn advertisement graces a streetcar in Okayama, Japan in April 1997.
A large snake (of the non-rattling variety) suns itself on Montana Rail Link in Lombard Canyon, Montana. Nikon F3T with 105mm lens; Kodachrom 25 exposed at f4.5 1/250th second
Quantification isn’t the best approach. Yet, I like to consider various elements of the railway scene when reviewing my photography.
I realize that many photographers focus their work on those elements that grip their interest.
In my travels, I like to keep my spectrum as broad as possible. I’m always seeking to capture different scenes that relate to the railway as a whole.
Below are some of the many categories covered in my photography and in the posts on Tracking the Light. Undoubtedly some topics are more popular than others.
Someone once said, ‘never photograph by aiming directly into the midday sun’. And, this advice has been melded into the cardinal rules of good railway photography.
The other day, while photographing along Mass-Central’s former Boston & Albany Ware River Branch at Gilbertville, I opted to violate this basic premise of good photography.
Three considerations;
Over the years (35 of them) I’ve exposed a great many images of the Mass-Central on its former B&A branch. (A fair few of these images, I feel are indeed quite good, and perhaps border the category of ‘above average’.) So, if I end up making a bad photo (or two), who cares?
My 12mm Zeiss Touit lens is an unusual piece of equipment. Owing to the nature of its design and exceptional high quality glass, I can make photos that frankly wouldn’t work so well with more conventional equipment.
By selecting a very small aperture (f22), I can create a sunburst effect in a clear polarized sky while continuing to retain shadow detail.
By selecting a small aperture and carefully exposusing manually by close attention to the camera’s histogram, I’ve optimized the digital sensors data capture. Essentially, I’ve attempted to retain some detail in the shadow areas while controlling the highlights. The use of a very small aperture (f22) creates the sunburst effect. This would be far less effective with this lens set (for example) at f5.6.
Another tip: to help reduce the exposure of highlights (bright areas) I’ve taken advantage of a high wispy cloud that muted the direct effects of the sun. Exposed with a 12mm Zeiss Touit lens on a FujiFilm X-T1 digital camera. This is a camera produced Jpg, unaltered except for scaling necessary for internet presentation.
An extreme lighting situation. Another effect of using a very wide-angle lens set with a very small aperture is tremendous depth of field (the relative focus between near and far objects in the photo). A jet contrail help diffused the light. I’ve also made a very nominal global contrast adjustment to lighten the shadow areas. In this instance, I have not applied any external filters.
So, are these photos good? Will I be fined by the aesthetics police? That’s up to you to decide!
But, honestly, what else would you have me do with a northward train coming directly out of the midday sun? I could have made no photos, but that wouldn’t make for a very interesting post, now would it?
Back in the day, a long long time ago (1906, I think), a self-appointed man of knowledge carved into stone the rules of good railroad photography. When translated these read something to the effect:
To take a good train picture you must:
Always use a standard lens;
Expose on bright sunny days;
The sun should be at least 30 degrees above the horizon and over your left shoulder positioned for an evenly lit three-quarter view;
Keep shadows off all railroad rolling stock;
Minimize or eliminate all wires and poles;
Refrain from including people;
Always select a vantage point that allows for a clean view of locomotive wheels;
Select a fast enough shutter speed to stop the action;
Avoid distracting or complicated backgrounds.
Keep trees and fences in the distance.
Amtrak ACS-64 652 leads Keystone train 648 east at Trenton, New Jersey in a December 2015 downpour. Digitally exposed using a Lumix LX7.
Railroad photography isn’t necessarily aided by a windswept empty car park, a host lighting poles, catenary masts, fences, not to mention the metal monstrosity posing as a footbridge.
This was the scene at Readville, Massachusetts on Sunday, Morning, December 6, 2015.
An MBTA train heading for Boston was due shortly. Since locomotives operate on the south-end of consists, I set up for a trailing pan photo. I focused on the new engine and allowed the setting to settle into a sea of blur.
An MBTA HSP46 passes Readville, Massachusetts on Sunday December 6, 2015.
This is one means of making the ugliness more interesting.
Exposed at 1/60th of a second using my FujiFilm X-T1 digital camera. Contrast controlled in post processing using Lightroom.
Siemens-built ACS-64 640 zips along with Amtrak train number 160 at Milford, Connecticut on the former New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.
The other day, I made this image from the far end of the station platform. I set my shutter to 1/1000th of a second, pulled the zoom back to its widest position (18mm), and had the drive set to ‘CH’ (continuous high)—which allows for a rapid burst of images.
Amtrak train 160 at Milford, Connecticut.
This arrangement of settings allowed me to catch the locomotive very close and in sharp focus.
Here are two additional images from the burst:
This one is a bit more distant but features more of the background and right-of-way.
Nice capture on the logo. However, if this had been my only view, I’d be disgusted with my effort.
